


Patience is the Key

by RomanceSucker42



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Found Family, Modern Girl in Middle Earth, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, The Valar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29365095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomanceSucker42/pseuds/RomanceSucker42
Summary: A medic found herself given the chance for another life in Middle Earth. A chance for love, family, and acceptance. She was not going to pass that up.
Relationships: Aragorn | Estel/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Lord of the Rings. This is an OC/Aragorn fic based around the OC. I hope you like it.

She always did hate the holidays. It always just made her sad. She was an only child and her parents died when she was ten. Her intelligence was recognized while she was in the foster care system, and now she was a prestigious trauma surgeon at the age of 26. However, her intelligence put people off, so she didn’t really have friends and her work schedule was so insane that she didn’t have any pets either. If she was being honest with herself, the hospital felt more like home than her own apartment most nights. 

Working wasn’t the only thing she did, though, she had hobbies. She was a marksman in throwing knives and in archery. She even went to competitions on occasion when she could get away from work. She also knew how to fish and hunt, but those were lessons that she had not used since she was a little girl learning it from her father. Her difficulty with people wasn’t that she couldn’t communicate with them, it was she just didn’t really have time to keep the relationships. Everyone that she met never really understood that being a doctor was who she was. It wasn’t just a job to her, so she was usually alone. 

It was the beginning of November, and it was freezing outside and snowing. She had just come off of a 36 hour shift and had been heading to her car when her terrible accident occurred. Tired and cold, she fumbled with her keys, dropping them in the middle of the parking lot. A car had hit a sheet of black ice, and the driver had lost control of the car completely, barreling right for her. All she really remembered were the bright headlights and the sound of tires screeching before nothing. She died instantly on impact.

When she woke up, she was very confused. White light surrounded her and directly in front of her were ethereal creatures. Their beauty was otherworldly and she found it a little difficult to look at them. It was enchanting and terrifying to look at. It was loud and silent at the same time in this strange place, which confused her greatly. Time didn’t seem to matter, it could have been days or minutes before one of them spoke. They alternated in speaking, but she couldn’t tell the difference between them.

“Before you, is a choice. You were taken from your world too soon, but you achieved much in your short time. You are a brilliant doctor, and we are giving you a chance to be so again. You will not be able to go back to your world, unfortunately, but to another world entirely.”

She was very confused. Where was she? And who were these ethereal people? She never spoke out loud, but they answered her questions anyways. 

“We are the Valor and you are in a limbo of sorts. You are dead, but you currently have a choice between moving on or going to another world. It is rare that we do this, but not unheard of.”

She contemplated this for a while. What is this world like? Will I be accepted as a doctor? 

“This world is called Middle Earth and it is where your world was sometime in your 12th century in terms of technology. There are many different races: Elves, dwarves, man, goblins, orcs, wizards to name a few. Magic is real in this world, and it is on the cusp of a war between good and evil. Your services as a doctor would save many in the coming war. Doctors are called healers there. If you accept, we will replace your knowledge on medications with the proper herbal concoctions that will do similar things with less negative side effects. We know you were alone in your world, but you will find the one that is meant for you in Middle Earth.”

All of this surprised her and it was a lot to take in. She didn’t take long to think it over before she gave her answer. Yes, I would like to go to Middle Earth. Hearing that she could help more people and continue practicing medicine, she completely disregarded all logic and following questions like, will I be able to understand people, and How am I going to explain my presence? She just wanted to help, and if she could do that in Middle Earth, she wanted to go there.

She didn’t get a verbal response from the Valor. She blinked and when she opened her eyes again, she was on the cold ground surrounded by trees. Her clothes were changed to a plain brown dress with what looked like a simple bodice, but they were thin and worn. Around her neck she found her mother’s necklace, which she was very grateful for. If there was one thing that she would have liked to bring with her, it was this necklace. It was an intricate design of celtic knots that had been passed down from her mother’s side through the generations. Water could be heard not far away along with the normal sounds of the outdoors. The ground was rocky and had sporadic ground cover patches, making it not very comfortable to sleep on. She got up off the ground and dusted herself off then continued to look around. Standing is when she realized she didn’t have any shoes. Lovely. Walking on this ground should be fun. 

She didn’t see anyone around so she picked a direction and started walking. It had been about midday when she had woken up, so she knew it had been several hours of walking before she heard suspicious rusling around her. She suddenly become hyper aware of the lack of weapons or anything to defend herself with aside from maybe a rock on the ground. There was a moment when she realized there was danger, then everything happened really fast after that. 

Out jumped several disgusting, twisted creatures surprising her. They yell-growled as they rushed her and she tried to run but they caught her making her fall hard to the ground. The resulting struggle was more like grappling but there was three against one. She remembers getting a few kicks and elbows in but her energy was fading fast and they were winning. Out of nowhere, a man starting to attach the creatures with his sword. His attack diverted the creatures attention to him, leaving her alone long enough to crawl away from the battle in front of her. The man was fast and very effective. In seconds, the attack was over and the creatures were dead. Fear and adrenaline was coursing through her still and seeing the powerful man with black blood on his cloths and his sword still dripping in it was not helping her calm down at all. 

She had tried to hide herself during the battle, but now that the sounds of yelling, weapons clashing, and dying had quieted, her backwards shuffling could be heard. He had just finished cleaning off his sword when he heard the rustle of the bush she had brushed against when she tried to burrow deeper in her hiding spot. He was quick on the defense again, looking like a fierce warrior with his sword now gleaming at the ready. He scanned the area before he locked on to her location. Seeing that he knew where she was made her give an involuntary whimper and tried to burrow herself further into the brush and against the tree. Hearing the whimper made him pause and lower his weapon out of the defensive position. She wasn’t very well hidden, so when he walked a little closer, he could see that it was a frighten woman in the brush. He quickly put away his sword and tried to make himself seem more approachable with his hands coming up slightly in front of himself in a placating gesture. 

“Easy.” he said. “I mean you no harm, but you must come out. We should not linger here, orcs usually travel in larger packs then this.” He had been steadily getting closer to her while he spoke and only stopped when he was two feet away. He leaned down a little and held out his hand to her to help her up. “Please. We really must leave.”

She had stopped trying to disappear into the tree while he spoke, but still felt wary of him. He was a complete stranger, and she had consistent bad experiences with strangers. However, she could see his point, they really should get out of there. Aches and pains were starting to surface, so, despite not wanting to be so close that she could touch him right now, she took his offered hand to help her up. Standing told her just how many bruises she had accumulated in the scuffle, along with cuts. Her dress was messy and torn and her feet felt like they were about to start bleeding. She could only imagine how her hair and face looked if how muddy her dress was anything to go by. 

She didn’t say anything to him, but when she was standing she let go of him and nodded her head in thanks. He just nodded back and they were off. They walked the remaining few hours of daylight before they came upon a small clearing with the river not far from it. “We’ll stop here for the night.” He said to her which she nodded back to him. She then went over to find firewood and herbs to aid in healing. While walking, she noticed that the warrior had been hurt and even if it had been just a graze, those weapons did not look sanitary and she was determined to clean it up. She came back with the firewood first and spotted a bowl he had temporarily taken out of his pack to access other things. She needed something to put the herbs she found in, so she snatched it up and quickly left before he could stop her. She was back in less than five minutes with the bowl full and with some wood that she thought she could fashion as a mortar and pestle for the time being. 

He had started a fire by the time she had come back. When she settles not far from the fire, he goes over to her and hands her a dagger. “Here. I am going to go hunt, I shouldn’t be long.” She looked at him for a long minute before she took the dagger and nodded her head to him again. With that, he turned and went into the forest. While he was gone, she made quick work of making some decent bandages. She put water on to boil, then preceded to rip up her already destroyed dress skirt some. It had been fairly long, covering her feet from view, but now her skirt was mid calf. She washed the strips of material in the river the best she could before she dumped them in the boiling water above the fire. With those boiling, she turned back to fashioning her mortar and pestle and rigged up a way to dry the bandages over the fire quickly. She did the rigging first, then found a rock to smooth the chunk of wood she found that already had a good size hole in it. Then she carefully took the bandages out and laid them across the rigging to quickly dry, then dumped the water and cleaned the cauldron she used before returning it back to his pack. She meticulously laid out the herbs that she needed dried, before she went back to the mortar. Not much more then ten minutes had gone by before she took the bandages off the rigging and took the rigging down to use as firewood.

He came back when she was finishing rolling up the last bandages with two rabbits in hand. He looks a little quisical at the rolled bandages she placed on top of his pack so they would not get dirty before she used them. He didn’t ask, though, so she didn’t explain and they continued with their respective tasks. She finished her mortar and pestle when he finished gutting and skinning the rabbits and had dinner well under way. She finished prepping her herbs, then sat and watched him for a second before getting up and moving over to him and sitting beside him. She had his dagger in her hands and she handed it back over to him. 

“Thank you. And thank you for saving my life, earlier.” He accepted the thanks and dagger with a nod. “What is your name? Who are you?” He looked in deep contemplation for a moment before he answered her.

“I am Aragorn, though I am more widely known as Strider. I am a Ranger of the North. Who are you?”

“My name is Patience and I am a healer.” He doesn’t really look all that satisfied, but nods his head in acceptance.

“How did you come to these woods? And alone at that?”

“I wasn’t traveling with anyone, if that is your meaning, but I do not even know where these woods are, nor do I know how I got here.” Neither of those were a lie, either. She had no idea where she was or how the Valor had sent her to those woods. That’s about when she noticed he had intense steele-blue eyes with a wicked unimpressed and suspicious look that it almost made her smile. 

“You are in the northern outskirts of Trollshaws forest. There is a Ranger’s outpost in Rhudaur not far from here. I was headed that way to restock supplies. We should be there in three, maybe four days.” Knowing where she was gave her some comfort, even if she had no idea where that was in relation to anything. She nodded her head, though, as if the explanation gave her an understanding of those locations. Dinner was ready then, and they amicably ate in silence. They didn’t speak again until dinner was cleaned up and she had her poultices and teas ready.

“Take off your shirt, let me see your arm.” She said while walking over to him with her poultices and bandages at the ready. He gave her a look like she was crazy so she huffed at him. “I know you are wounded. I am a healer. Now let me see to the damage.” 

He tried to shrug her off. “It’s just a scratch.” but she was insistent.

“Let. Me. See.” It was his turn to huff at her, but he stripped off his clothes all the same to expose a rather deep and jagged slice in his arm that was still bleeding a little. She frowned at it and prodded for a moment before she handed him one of the teas. “This is very deep. You need stitches. Drink that, it will help with the pain. Do you have a mending kit with you?” He nodded and retrieved the kit for her, then reluctantly drank the tea. She fished out the needle and sterilized it with fire as best as she could while he finished the tea. She then proceeded to thoroughly clean the wound before stitching it up a bit, putting a disinfectant poultice on it, then bandaging it up. Neither said anything during the whole process and he never flinched once. She handed him another tea. “Here, this one speeds up the healing process. All done.” She then busied herself with cleaning up, completely ignoring him redressing and his nod in thanks. So when he spoke, it came as a surprise.

“Where are your shoes?” She world around on him and blinked a few times, startled, before she answered him.

“I have none.” Confusion and incredulousness warred on his face.

“You have been walking through these woods barefoot?” She nodded in confirmation slowly, still very confused by his reaction. She had been walking around for hours without shoes and he hadn’t said anything about it until now. Come to think of it, she should probably take a look at her feet, they really stung. He took the decision away from her, though. “Let me see your feet. The woods isn’t a place to be running around barefoot.” She hadn’t moved away from him yet, so he reached over and grabbed one of her feet and pulled it towards him. She squeaked at being manhandled but he ignored it and frowned at the foot. Then he compared it to her other foot. “You have several cuts on them. They need to be cleaned and bandaged. Don’t move, I’ll get the supplies needed.” With that, he was up and moving about the camp site collecting what he needed, but not before he draped his cloak over her shoulders. He saw her shiver while he was inspecting her feet and assumed that she was cold. The night had grown colder and Patience had no idea how cold she had gotten until he was touching her. His touch sent shoots of blazing heat through her, which made the rest of her shiver. 

He made quick work on cleaning and bandaging her feet. They hadn’t said anything to each other until he was done and he was the one to break it. “Why do you not have any shoes?” She could feel a light blush stain her cheeks.

“I don’t know. I woke up in the woods without any shoes. I was wondering if I could use the rabbit skin to make something to cover my feet, but I do not wish to impose. You have done more than enough for me.” She wrapped the cloak tighter around herself. Now that her patient was well and the adrenaline was wearing off, she realized that she was freezing and exhausted. She tried to stifle a yawn, but was unsuccessful. He had been watching her carefully for any sign of deceit, so he saw the yawn.

“You can fashion something tomorrow. It is late and tomorrow will be a long day. Sleep.” She just nodded at him and snuggled down right where she was at. The cloak was large and acted at a cocoon which she fell instantly asleep in.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Lord of the Rings. This is an OC/Aragorn fic based around the OC. I hope you like it.

She woke early, just before dawn on instinct. She slept soundly and deeply, which was strange and unusual for her to do. She could see that Aragorn was asleep, so she quietly got out of her cocoon of warmth and went over to the river to clean herself up. She struggled with her dress for a moment, before she managed to get out of it. The water was cold and the bank hurt her feet, but she disregarded that. She cleaned her dress first and hung it over a tree branch before she went further into the water to clean herself. She made it quick, spending the most time on her hair, trying to get the grime out of it. Dawn had broken out across the sky now, waking Aragorn up. She saw him wake up from the river bank and was quick to get out and grab her dress before he saw her completely naked. She saw the exact second when he noticed she wasn’t where he left her and proceeded to look around wildly for her. She walked a little closer to the camp before she called out quietly. 

“I’m right here Aragorn.” He immediately turned to the sound of her voice, his eyes giving away his relief in seeing her safe. It made her flush, the relief. It had been awhile since someone had been worried about her safety. That’s when he saw the state she was in. She was still naked with her damp dress across her front so he wouldn’t see all of her. Her hair was still very wet, water droplets run down her back and legs, making her shiver from the added cold. She stood awkwardly there for a moment before he spoke.

“Next time, please tell me where you are going before you disappear.” She nodded in agreement, then he deliberately turned his back to her and started making breakfast. She took the hint and got into her destroyed dress and tried to get the water out of her hair before she approached the fire. He didn’t comment, so she started on the makeshift shoes using the mending kit after cleaning the skins. There wasn’t much to the skins and it had to be the only time she was thankful for tiny feet. She was a fairly small person in general. She was 5’6” but she was thin and slight, almost delicate looking. Her brown hair was long, wild and wavy, which gave her constant trouble. Though she tried to cut it once and found it was impossible to tame short. If there was one thing she liked about herself, though, it was her purple eyes. They were normally a light purple, but they were known to changed shades depending on her mood. 

They didn’t speak for the rest of the morning. They ate breakfast before she was done with the shoes, so he cleaned up the campsite while she finished. When the shoes were done, he cleaned and re-bandaged her feet before she put them on. She then returned the favor with his arm before they packed up and continued on. About mid morning is when she realized just how injured she actually was. Her whole body was bruised and she was having trouble moving her right wrist. She had felt the pain in her wrist earlier, but tried to ignore it. Now she was starting to believe she may have sprained it, badly. The rabbit skins were helping, but by mid afternoon, her feet were on fire. That’s when she lost her footing and fell to the ground. She fell to her knees then quickly turned to sit on her rear. She bit her lip and shut her eyes to keep from crying out in pain. She opened her eyes when she heard fabric rustling to see Aragorn kneeling in front of her.

“Are you alright?” She didn’t trust herself to speak yet, so she nodded her head. “What happened?” She took a few steadying breaths before she spoke.

“I just stepped wrong, the pain should subside in a moment.” He didn’t look convinced.

“What is wrong with your hand?” She hadn’t even noticed she had been cradling it too.

“I think it’s sprained. It’s annoying, but fine. I’ll wrap it when we camp tonight.” He ignored her and took a bandage out of his pack and wrapped her wrist securly. By then, the pain in her feet had lessen, so she started to stand with Aragorn’s help. He surprised her, though, by picking her up bridal style after she was on her feet. 

“Aragorn, what are you doing!? Put me down! I’m completely capable of walking on my own.” He huffed at her and frowned.

“If you continue walking today, you will do more damage to your feet than necessary. You are very light, this is not difficult.” It was her turn to huff, but she didn’t comment. She just held onto him tightly for the rest of the day’s walk. 

That’s mostly how they spent the next several days. They didn’t speak to each other, though they spoke with gestures and looks most of the time just fine, negating the need for words altogether. At night, they would eat, then patch each other up and she would sleep in his cloak next to the fire. Around mid-afternoon, he would pick her up and carry her the rest of the day until they made camp. They had been out of the forest by noon the second day of travel and was approaching a town by early afternoon on the fourth day. 

“We are approaching the Ranger’s trading outpost called Rhuneg. I do not expect trouble, but stay close to me anyway. We’ll get a room at an inn, then we will get you some clothes.” She nodded in understanding and relief. She really wanted different clothes then this ratty dress she had on. 

The outpost was loud and obtrusive compared to the quietness of nature she had become accustomed to the last few days. Walking down the main street reminded her of walking down a farmer’s market. Stalls were everywhere and people were all crowded around trying to by products. Fear spiked through her for a second when she almost lost Aragorn in the crowd and impulsively grabbed his hand while they walked. He glanced down at her hand in his then back at her for a moment, before grasping her hand tighter and continued on to an inn. They were able to procure a room for the next week, then they turned back to the stalls to get her some clothes to wear. A clothes stall was in sight when she realized she didn’t have any money. Before they reached it, she pulled him back a little and quietly said.

“We can’t go in there, I don’t have any money. Maybe I should just wait at the inn and you can run the errands you need.” He sighed at her.

“I have it covered. You need clothes and a pack and bed roll. Possibly some weapons as well, but for today, we will start with clothes.” She pulled back from him, starting to feel uncomfortable. 

“I can’t ask that of you. You have already done so much for me-” He cut her off.

“You didn’t ask, I am offering. You need clothes. If you want to make it up to me, pick out sturdy and practical clothes. Now go.” He nudged her forward towards the stall. She blushed a little, but nodded her head and entered the stall. She was quick to find two pairs of pants, three shirts, and two soft leather bustiers all in her general size then went to try them on to make sure they fit. Then she found boots, a belt, a leather vest, a jacket, and fingerless leather gloves. Aragorn had found a shirt for himself to replace a particularly destroyed shirt he possessed and was waiting for her to be finished. When she came up to him with the pile of clothes, he didn’t give any indication of approval, but she could see it in his eyes, which made her smile slightly. He paid the stall owner and they went back to the inn for the night. At the inn, Aragorn waved her up to their room before he turned to speak to the barman. She continued without him, but stopped when she entered their room. There was only one bed in the room. She tried not to think about it and continued in, dropping her new clothes on the bed and sitting down next to them. She wasn’t waiting long before Aragorn came threw the door, pausing like she did at the sight of the bed. When he closed the door again, she spoke.

“I think they thought we were a couple.” He nodded in agreement and was about to say something but she cut him off before he could. “Neither of us are going to sleep on the floor or the chair. We both have been traveling for some time, you more then me, and we both will be sleeping in a bed tonight. We are both adults, I think we can figure out how to sleep on separate sides of a bed.” He gave her an amused look, but didn’t try to argue the point with her.

“They are bringing up a bath soon and will bring up dinner in an hour. I’m going to run an errand while you bathe, I will be back before dinner is here.” There is a knock on the door just then and he goes to open it. It was the maids with the bath and towels. They made quick work of setting up the bath then they left again. He remembered at the last minute to get out the soap he had along with the comb he owned. “Here, use these. We will get you your own tomorrow.” She smiled and nodded in thanks, then he was off again. 

She didn’t know how long he was going to be gone, so she quickly got out of the dress and rabbit skin and into the warm bath. She scrubbed her skin until it was pink, then vigorously washed her hair. She felt as though she could have spent forever on her hair, but stopped after the third wash. She got out and dried off, then put on her new clothes. Putting on pants felt amazing to her and after only half an hour, she felt more human than she had since she arrived in Middle Earth. There was a knock on the door before she heard Aragorn’s voice call out to her and she called back to enter. With him was a sturdy pack and what looked like a warm bed roll. She was sitting on the bed with her boots off so he could fix up her feet like he had taken to doing. When he was done with her feet, she took the comb and headed to the door so he could wash up himself. 

“I’ll be right outside the door, so just let me know when I can come back in.” She didn’t let him say anything before she closed the door and started in on her hair. Twenty minutes later, she hadn’t made much progress with her hair when he called out to come back in. He had left his shirt off for her to fix his arm up, like she had been. She handed him the comb and started in on fixing him up. Not two minutes later, there was a knock on the door and a servant calling out they had their dinner for them. Aragorn responded with an affirmative to come in, but didn’t attempt to get up yet because she was still working on his arm. The servants with the food were followed by the maids that were there to take the bath away. The sight of Aragorn shirtless had given them all pause for a moment and looked between the two of them with wide eyes. Patience was wrapping his wound now and trying not to smile at the blushes she could see staining the maid’s cheeks. She could empathize, a shirtless Aragorn was one hell of a sight. Aragorn’s look got them all moving, though, and soon they were left alone again with their food. They ate in silence, like always, before they decided to go to bed. Aragorn didn’t put a shirt back on and she took her vest and bustier off, but kept her shit and pants on. They both were asleep when they hit the pillow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Lord of the Rings. This is an OC/Aragorn fic based around the OC. I hope you like it.

She didn’t know what woke her at first the next morning, but it was obviously Aragorn waking up that had woken her. Sometime during the night, she had rolled over to his side and was using his chest as a pillow with an arm slung over him as well and their legs were tangled together. Sleep addled, she looked up and found Aragorn looking down at her with an unreadable expression on his face. That’s when she realized the position they were in and scrambled off of him. 

“Oh! Aragorn, I am so sorry! Hi morning. I’m sorry, this won't happen again. I’ll sleep in the chair tonight. Really, I’m really sorry. So much for staying on my side of the bed, huh?” They were both sitting up in bed now and she tried to joke to pull a smile out of him to make this morning funny and not embarrassing. He didn’t smile, but amusement swirled in his eyes before he just shook his head and got up for the day. Success! 

When they were both dressed, they headed down to the bar to eat breakfast, then continued with their errands. The rest of the week was spent in a version of this pattern. She never did end up sleeping in the chair, they both secretly liked sleeping in the same bed together, so one or the other would make an argument that would get the other to sleep in the bed again that night. Mornings were still awkward and meals were still silent, but it was a strangely peaceful week for them. Sometime they would do errands together sometimes they would do them apart. She found the med tent on the second day, so spent a few hours a day working in there for the rest of the week. The morning of the seventh day was different, though. They woke tangled together like they had for the past week, but instead of awkward apologies, Aragorn held her in place against him and breathed heavily before speaking. 

“I am leaving today. I have urgent business in Bree.” He paused and she didn’t let him continue.

“When do we leave?” He sighed.

“Patience…”

“This isn’t a discussion, I am coming with you.” She said insistently. 

“This will be dangerous.”

“And I can fight. I have a bow now, I’m not helpless. I’m coming with you, so when do we leave?” He had learned she was proficient with throwing knives and a bow when they stopped in at a weapons stall earlier in the week. Their wounds had healed nicely over the week as well and she had a chance to outfit a healer’s satchel. They were ready to leave at a moments notice, even having food packed up last night, just in case. He was quiet for a long time before he replied. 

“We’ll leave after breakfast.” It made her smile, and was quick to get dressed and ready to go. She had finally managed to get her hair fully clean and combed out over the week, so she quickly pulled it into a braid down her back. By early morning, they were back on the road and headed to Bree. It takes three weeks to reach Bree. Now that one of them wasn’t traumatized, they took turns on watch on their travels and still ate silently. The three weeks were uneventful, meaning they were not attacked by orcs or bandits. They did learn more about each other, though, and they learned how to joke around and make the other laugh. They didn’t speak of their roots or their families, though. If they did go into their history, it would be some story about how they learned something. They both had secrets, and they respected that of each other. 

Bree was an interesting town for her to visit. She hadn’t really seen many other races, so she was fascinated by the hobbits and dwarves the town housed, though she was careful not to stare at them. A few days back, Aragorn had reminded her to call him Strider while they were in Bree. She knew it was a Ranger thing, so she nodded in understanding and told him that if they needed to keep their identities private, then he should call her Walker. His amusement was clear on his face, making her roll her eyes at him and explain where the name came from. She told him that her great, great, great, great, grandfather’s name was Walker, who was known as an intelligent and hard working individual. He had eight children who were all just as intelligent and hard-working as he was and they were often referred to as Walker’s kids. The name got a reputation and carried through the generations. So even though her father’s name was Patrick, him and herself were still referred to as ‘Walkers’. The story was one that her father liked to tell her to get her to go to sleep when she was a young child, how they got their last name. She had no idea if it was true, but she liked to think it was after her parents died. It gave her some connection to her ancestors and made her feel less alone. 

Thinking on her parents made her somber, so Aragorn just nodded his acceptance in calling her Walker while they were in Bree and left it at that. It wasn’t until they were in the Prancing Pony in their room that Patience ask why there were even in Bree. Aragorn was a little amused by this. He had been expecting this question two weeks ago.

“The wizard, Gandalf the Gray, sent me a correspondence. He needs me to lead a hobbit by the name of Frodo Baggins to Rivendell safely. He is indisposed and un-able to do so himself.”

“Does this Frodo Baggins know you are here in Gandalf’s stead?”

“No, he doesn’t. It is my understanding that he is going by the name Underhill while here to avoid suspicion. I was going to spend time in the dining area looking for him. He should be here sometime this week.” Patience nodded her head in understanding.

“We will take turns looking out for him. That way we can stock up on supplies and get some sleep in between watches.” He nodded his head in agreement.

Their routine was not unlike the one they set at the last Inn they stayed in. The only difference now was one of them would stay in the bar while the other went out for supplies. They still ate meals together and when it hit a certain hour, whoever was on watch would retire to bed and they would both sleep in the bed for the rest of the night. This is how they passed the first two days like this. By afternoon on the second day, they were anxious and had made sure to pack food in their packs just in case they needed to leave at a moments notice. Both of them had a dreadful feeling this was necessary.

They had just finished their dinner on a rainy night on the second day when they spotted four hobbits walk into the door. This wasn’t unusual, as there were hobbits that lived in Bree that came to The Prancing Pony all the time, so they didn’t get their hopes up. It was Aragorn’s turn to keep a look-out, so Patience retired to their room to finish up mending their clothes. She didn’t even like sewing, but it was a necessity and she was bored. She had just finished re-packing the mended clothes and was contemplating going to bed when the door crashed open. She had her bow out and strung pointed at the intruder before they even made it through the door. That’s when she noticed Aragorn shoving a hobbit into the room and quickly closing the door. He caught her eye and she lowered her bow while he went around the room snuffing out the lights. 

“What do you want?” the hobbit asked, completely missing her and looking at Aragorn.

“A little more caution from you. That is no trinket you carry.” She was curious what trinket Aragorn was referring to, but kept quiet for now. She wanted to see how this played out.

“I carry nothing.” the hobbit denied making Aragorn give a sharp response. 

“Indeed. I can avoid being seen if I wish, but to disappear entirely- that is a rare gift.” The lights were out now, and Aragorn threw off his hood to allow who she was assuming was Frodo to see his face. Aragorn was standing next to her now, making Frodo take notice of her as well. She could tell that it irritated Aragorn that Frodo just noticed her existence, making a warm feeling spread through her. 

“Who are you?” Frodo asked both of them, but Patience did not feel inclined to take over talking, so let Aragorn continue uninterrupted. This was his job, she was just along for the ride. She was a little taken aback how frustrated he was with this hobbit, though, to have completely deflected the question and asked a question of his own.

“Are you frightened?” Patience was now really curious what idiotic thing this hobbit did to make him angry.

“Yes.” It was a testament to how well and how fast she had gotten to know Aragorn to know that he may not have verbally scoffed, but he wanted to.

“Not nearly frightened enough. I know what hunts you.” Patience subtly put a calming hand on his arm. He was getting worked up and the poor hobbit was looking more and more frightened by the second. The door opened suddenly again and Aragorn had his sword drawn and she had and arrow strung before the door fully opened.

“Let him go, or I’ll have you, Longshanks.” Three hobbits came into the room with the first shouting that at Aragorn. He had his fists up and the other two had a candle stick holder and a chair. Aragorn sheathed his sword and she lowered her bow again. 

“You have a stout heart, little hobbit, but that will not save you. You can no longer wait for the wizard, Frodo. They’re coming.” Patience held back her laughter and curiosity through this. She waited for Aragorn to send them to collect their things to come to this room before she broke down laughing.

“Oh! Oh that’s so funny! Longshanks!” The managed to say between bouts of laughter. She saw him smile at her antics, amusement clear in his eyes.

“I’m glad you found that amusing, but this is not a laughing matter. They really are in a lot of danger.” That sobered Patience a little.

“Speaking of, what did that hobbit do to make you so ticked off?” He didn’t even deny that he was ticked off, just told her what happened in the dining area. That got her pretty upset. “That had to have been the stupidest thing he could have done! I don’t even know the full meaning of what that ring is and I know that.” He looked like he was about to explain but she waved him off. “You can give me a history lesson while we are on the road. Let’s just get through tonight, please.” He nodded in understanding and that’s when the hobbits came back. 

They got the hobbits settled for the night, deciding to take turns as lookout. The hobbits seemed a little unsettled that she was there, but she ignored them and curled up in the chair by the fire while Aragorn took the chair by the window. Frodo didn’t seem like he was going to be sleeping anytime soon, so she let Aragorn take first watch, hoping that would soothe him enough to get some sleep. She woke before her shift to the sounds of hoofbeats. Aragorn looked tense, so she knew he had heard them as well. There was piercing shrieking that occurred not long afterwards that woke the rest of the hobbits.

“What are they?” Frodo asked for the rest of the hobbits. Clearly her wakefulness was only noticed by Aragorn so she listened to Aragorn’s explanation.

“They were once Men. Great kings of Men. Then Sauron the Deceiver gave to them nine rings of power. Blinded by their greed, they took them without question, one by one, falling into darkness. And now they are slaves to his will. They are the Nazgul.” Shivers ran up her spine when he almost spat their name. It’s when she decided to get up and go comfort him by placing her hand on his shoulder. He was tired and somber. There was more to this story that was making him feel heavy with responsibility. He continued talking, though, and she didn’t interrupt him or ask questions. There would be time for that on the road. “Ringwraiths, neither living nor dead. At all times they feel the presence of the Ring, drawn to the power of the One. They will never stop hunting you.” He drew quiet, so she was the one to speak this time, addressing the hobbits for the first time.

“Get some sleep while you can. We have an early day tomorrow and it will also be a long one.” She turned to Aragorn and continued talking. “I have this watch, get some sleep.” He was about to protest but she cupped his cheek with one hand and gave him a look. He relented and swapped seats with her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Lord of the Rings. This is an OC/Aragorn fic based around the OC. I hope you like it.
> 
> Thank you everyone for their comments, I really appreciate them!

The rest of the night was quiet and she woke Aragorn two hours before dawn to help her get the hobbits up and on the road. They were a good ways away from Bree by dawn and that was about when it seemed the hobbits woke up enough to start asking questions. 

“Where are you taking us?” Frodo asked. Aragorn answered with a snippy comment because he was NOT a morning person.

“Into the Wild.” Patience was walking next to him, so only he saw her smile at the snippy comment. He huffed at her amusement, making her smile widen for a moment. They walked for several more hours before she could hear the hobbits talking amongst themselves. She almost wanted to groan at what they were saying because if she could hear them, Aragorn definitely could hear them. She has yet to meet an elf, but from Aragorn’s stories, his hearing could be compared to the sharpness of elves. She did stop when she heard Merry say he seemed foul enough, but Aragorn caught her hand before she could turn and give them a piece of her mind for insulting him, dragging her with him. He squeezed in reassurance, but didn’t trust her not to say something just yet, so he didn’t let go. Because of this, he didn’t turn around when he answered Sam’s question on where they were going.

“To Rivendell, Master Gamgee. To the house of Elrond.” There was a longing in his voice that she knew only she picked up. It made her wonder, but if he wanted to tell her, he would tell her. He noticed her curious puzzled face, but they were both distracted by Sam’s excited chatter about seeing elves. It made her smile at his honest-childlike excitement, making her wonder how old these hobbits were. She knew they were older than they looked, but Merry and Pippin still acted like children at points. Though clearly their culture was very different than ones that she was use to. The debacle over food several hours later was just one example of it. 

Traveling to Rivendell takes five weeks, sometimes four if you push it. Despite their curiosity, it takes the hobbits a whole week of travel before they try to approach Patience to talk. After the first day of dealing with a grumpy Aragorn, they had left the two of them alone. Which was good for Patience because in that week, she had gotten Aragorn to explain the history of the One Ring to her and talk more about Rivendell to her. When he admitted he had grown up there with his mother, she felt honored that he would share stories of his childhood. She could tell there was even more than that, though. That Rivendell held love and comfort and pain all at once for him. She never asked further on the subject, though, because she knew what that was like. Home to her had been the house she shared with her parents when they were alive. Talking about it was painful for her still. 

They had just passed through the marches when Pippin randomly came and sat down beside her during camp one night. Sam was taking care of prepping dinner and Aragorn had left to scout the area and hunt for food, leaving her in charge of the hobbits tonight until he came back. They switched of every other night, so neither got burned out during the trip. 

“We have been traveling for some time now, and I don’t believe we have been introduced yet. My name is Pippin, that over there is Merry. Sam is the one cooking and that over there is Frodo. But I imagine you know that already. We, however, have no idea what your name is or who you are?” He said it in a light hearted way and she could tell it was said in a genuine way. She wasn’t really in a talking mood, though, so her comments were a little shorter than she normally would have them.

“For now , as you call him Strider, you can call me Walker.” She left it at that, but that didn’t seem to satisfy Pippin. He continued to ask her questions for the next hour, though she didn’t reply back, just let him babble at her until Aragorn came back with a stag to eat. It had been a long time since someone had babbled at her, so she was incredibly grateful to see Aragorn again. His presence seemed to deter Pippin from continuing talking at her and he moved away from her and back to Merry. She went so far as to tug on his coat when he was walking past to indicate to him to sit next to her. He did, but he was highly amused by her actions. 

Much to her chagrin, though, Pippin was no longer deterred by Aragorn’s presence in the daylight. Meaning he and Merry were persistent in getting her talking. It continued this way over the next few days until Sam managed to pull her into a conversation about herbs. She didn’t even realize she was this passionate about herbs until she went on a three hour rant about the pros and cons of using one herb over another to treat a common cold. Really, what made her stop was Aragorn’s open grin on his face. She had managed to shock the hobbits into silence for the past two and a half hours, so when she stopped talking, everyone was very quiet. Her cheeks burned and she refused to speak for the rest of the day in embarrassment over her rant. On the bright side, Aragorn continued to smile for the rest of the afternoon and silently teased her for the following two days afterwards.

That’s when they reached Weathertop, the watchtower of Amon Sul. It was midday, but they had been pushing the hobbits hard for the last week and a half. It was clear that they needed to rest, so they stopped there for the night. The relief on the hobbits face when they sat down was comical, but she suppressed laughing at them. Aragorn had seemed antsy about something all day, so when he said he was going to go look around, she made sure to go with him. She was a little worried about the hobbits, but Aragorn had given them all swords earlier in the evening, so they had some protection on them. When they got far enough away, she broke the silence.

“What is troubling you?” He turned to look at her a little confused. 

“I don’t know what you speak of.” She rolled her eyes at him.

“Don’t be stubborn, Aragorn. I know something is troubling you. You have been antsy all day.” He didn’t say anything in response to that and she let it go for a few hours before she brought it up again. “Is it the Ringwraiths?” He stopped at that, confirming that it was those that was bothering him. “Why does it seem like they bother you more than they bother Frodo?” He turned to look at her now looking very conflicted. She waited for his answer, but she didn’t get one because his conflicted look morphed into one of horror. She turned to see what he had seen and can clearly see a light up on Weathertop. The hobbits had a fire going. As one, they bolted back to the watchtower. They heard the screeches before they saw the black riders. When they got there, they were attacking the hobbits. Chaos ensued after that. Patience noticed one of the black riders had stabbed something away from the rest of them, so she shot it with an arrow, pissing it off. She tried to keep a distance, but two came up on her and flung her into one of the statues, knocking her out. 

When she came too, she could see Sam with Frodo and Aragorn was finishing off the rest of them. Frodo looked hurt, so she shook of her disorientation and ignored the pain she felt in her leg and went over to Frodo, only seconds behind Aragorn in getting there. Sam was pleading with Aragorn to help him, but there wasn’t much either of them could help with.

“He has been stabbed by a Morgul blade. This is beyond either of our skill to heal. He needs elvish medicine.” She knew what he was really saying. He needed elvish magic and neither of us could give him that. She quickly did what she could for him, at least eased the pain a little and helped stop the bleeding before they fled into the night. Frodo was carried between the Aragorn and Patience for the next two weeks. They almost never stopped during that time, pushing the other hobbits as fast as they could. Patience did everything that she could think of, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. Frodo still declined in each passing day. Two weeks in, it looked like Frodo was about to become one of them and Aragorn had paused for a moment to try to collect more Athelas in hopes that fresh will help slow the poisoning even more then they had managed to do so far. He had enlisted Sam’s help and they left Merry and Pippin with her and Frodo. Pippin’s panic was understandable, but when he asked her if Frodo was going to die, she really wanted to slap him. No one was dying on her watch. Not today. 

Aragorn hadn’t been gone long before he was back with a beautiful, what she assumed was elvish woman in tow. Her fear abated a little, but she doubted she would feel relief until she saw Frodo healthy again. When they reached Frodo, Patience moved to give them some room and stood by Merry, Pippin, and Sam.

“Who is she?” Merry asked her, but she really had no idea who she was, so his question was left unanswered by her.

“She’s an elf.” Sam replied which she was grateful for. Things were weirdly fuzzy and they had been for the last week or so. She watched them speak over him, but for some reason, she couldn’t make out what they were saying very well. She heard something about Frodo fading and needing to get him to the elf’s father. She extrapolated from that that this was Arwen, Elrond’s daughter and Aragorn’s pseudo -sister. Good, that means she can help Frodo.

“Where are you taking him!?” Merry’s cried question brought her back from her thoughts. She didn’t even know when she had stopped paying attention. Part of her brain was cataloging it as another thing she had been doing a lot of lately, but she ignored it and focused on what had Merry upset. Aragorn had placed Frodo on the elf’s horse and was now arguing in elvish with said elf.

“What are they saying?” Pippin asked, but again she had no answer so she didn’t respond. Aragorn was protective of the ones he loved, even if he didn’t show it. If she had to guess, he was trying to make Arwen stay with the hobbits while he rode with Frodo, but she wasn’t having any of that. In the end, the elf maiden won and climb onto the horse. They said their farewells and she was off like a shot.

“What are you doing!?” Sam shouted at Aragorn. “Those Wraiths are still out there!” Aragorn didn’t immediately answer Sam, so Patience answered for him.

“This is the fastest way for Frodo to get help. He will not last much longer and he will most certainly die if he continued to travel at our speed. He needs help now, and Arwen is the one who can help him the fastest. The Wraiths are on our tail right now, but they will follow Frodo soon. We must keep going until they are not following us any longer or else we will be dead long before Frodo is.” It wasn't very uplifting, but it was the truth. It wasn’t something she would normally say, though, so Aragorn looked back at her with concern and confusion swirling in his eyes. At least she thought that was what it was. She wasn't seeing things very well right now.

They soberly continue on until midday the next day when they decided to rest for the night. Now that they didn't have a dying Frodo to keep them all going, the past two weeks were catching up to them. Patience really didn’t realize how detrimental that was for herself until they made camp. She went to go get some firewood, but stopped after one step. She finally registered the hot, blinding pain coming from her leg and she is pretty sure that she is seeing her dead mother standing off in the distance. Her healer brain kicked in then telling her that she infected something on her leg and she had one hell of a high fever if she was hallucinating her mother. She thought back and realized she had been showing all the signs of infection for the past week and she might have blood poisoning at this point.

“Huh.” She didn’t realize she said it out loud, but her stop had drawn Aragorn’s attention, this had just prompted him to go over to her and ask.

“What? What’s wrong?” She didn’t even know when he had moved, so seeing him right in front of her made her jump a little, making him frown deeply. “You’re pale, are you alright?” She could see worry swim in his eyes, making her gut twist to know she put that worry there.

“I am so sorry. I didn’t realize, I swear. I was so focused on Frodo, I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten.” Part of her was rather proud that she was still speaking coherently, but the majority felt bad for making him worry so much. Confusion mixed with worry now, so he asked softly.

“Why are you sorry? Sorry for what?” He cupped her face with one of his hands and that’s when he realized just how warm she was. “You’re burning up!” Worry was now in full force, but she thought there was a tinge of fear there now.

“I know, I’m sorry. I cut my leg on Weathertop and now it is very infected. I have a very high fever, but I think I can still make the right poultice to help with the fever. The problem is, I can’t reopen the wound and take out the infection by myself.” Aragorn was holding her face now and trying to get her to look at him, though she was pretty firmly looking at his chest. She could feel herself swaying, so she clutched at his clothes to keep upright. She felt really faint now. So much so, she didn’t know if she could make those poultices. “Aragorn, I didn’t mean to. I am so sorry. I think I’m going to pass out now.” And with that, the world went dark with Aragorn’s cry of her name ringing in her ears.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Lord of the Rings. This is an OC/Aragorn fic based around the OC. I hope you like it.

She remembers flashes of the next few days, but nothing really solid. The next time she was fully conscious, she was on a very plushy bed in a very obvious and gorgeous hospital wing. The beautiful arched window nearby told her it was late in the evening and the warm heavy weight on her right hand told her that someone was holding her hand. Looking over, she saw Aragorn holding her hand while he was asleep, slumped in a chair next to her bed. He was changed and had clearly bathed at some point, but he looked tired and worried. Her hand twitched on its own to get a better hold of his hand, which ended up being a mistake because it had woken him up. He clearly hadn’t been sleeping well if a simple hand twitch woke him up. It took him a second before he noticed she was awake. Relief pored off of him in waves when he saw her purple eyes again. 

“Patience!” He said with reverence and relief. “Thank the Valor you’re alright. It’s October 20th, you have been asleep for ten days.” he moved from the chair to the bed while he talked and was now clutching her hand with both of his. “That was a very stupid thing to do! Please never do that again!” She grimaced . She had really freaked him out.

“I know, I’m sorry Aragorn. I’m ok, I promise. I feel a ton better.” She observed him for a second before forcing herself to move to one side of the bed. 

“What are you doing?” He asked alarmed at her moving.

“I’m moving so you can lay down. You look exhausted but I don’t want you to leave yet.” He huffed at her, but it was a testament to how tired he was that he only huffed at her before taking off his shoes and climbing into bed with her. They shuffled about for a second until she was using his chest as a pillow and he was holding her. “So this is Rivendell?” Her question pulled a tired half chuckle out of him.

“This is the Halls of Healing in Rivendell. There is more to Rivendell then it’s healing halls, though, and I am determined for you to see that. You cannot spend all of your time in here. And before you ask, Frodo is doing well. He should wake sometime in the next few days.” She smiled into his chest.

“You know me too well.” She accused him before rubbing his chest a little in what she hopes is a soothing manor. “Sleep, Aragorn. It’s late. You can tell me more of your plans on keeping me out of these halls in the morning.” her eyes had drifted closed so she felt more then saw him catch her hand and squeeze it before she fell asleep again.

She woke in the morning to soft talking not far from her. She could tell Aragorn was still asleep under her, so she didn’t move to see who was talking, but she did listen in.

“Let them sleep. Estel has barely left her side since they came in and you know he hasn’t been sleeping. They look comfortable, let them sleep.” She was confused on who Estel was, but took a wild guess that it was Aragorn by the way they were talking.

“They do look comfortable, but that raises a lot of questions. That doesn’t look like that is the first time they have slept like that. We don’t know anything about this girl and what Estel told us, her circumstances are very suspicious.” She felt Aragorn’s arms hold her a little tighter at this. So much for him being asleep.

“Ada, be reasonable! We have yet to even meet this girl, but it is very clear that Estel is very fond of her.” A third, feminine, voice scolded. Patience didn’t want to hear this anymore so she said into Aragorn’s chest.

“Is your family always so chatty in the morning?” His hand that was cradling her shoulder rubbed it in commiseration.

“No, it’s much worse. They are morning people.” She groaned loudly at that and tried to burrow into his chest. Her action startled a sleepy laugh out of him before he sobered up and continued. “Though they don’t usually gossip about family matters out in the open like this nor do they usually argue near sick beds.” Patience tightened her grip on him and tried to burrow a little deeper into his embrace.

“Quiet, Aragorn. Maybe they will leave us alone to sleep some more. Valor knows you need it. You looked like crap last night.” His huff was of amusement this time.

“You say the nicest things.” Was his very sarcastic reply. Then he said seriously. “I’m afraid they are persistent, Patience. It is time to get up.” She groaned again before sighing.

“Alright, I’m up, I’m up.” She opened up her eyes and slowly sat up with Aragorn sitting up with her. Looking around, she spotted four elves at the foot of her bed staring at them. They stared at each other for a moment until Aragorn cleared his throat and introduced everyone.

“Patience, this is Lord Elrond, beside him is his daughter Lady Arwen and behind them are the terrible twins, Elladan and Elrohir. Everyone, this is Patience, daughter of Patrick. She is a healer.” He indicated who each person was while he made introductions. Patience smiled at them. She was genuinely happy about finally meeting them, even if they didn’t like her being around Aragorn.

“It’s an honor to meet you. I hope you know how much Aragorn loves you and misses you when he travels.” It came a little out of left field, but that was what she got every time Aragorn talked about them. Since she didn’t have any family, She felt it necessary to make sure Aragorn’s family knew how valued they were to him. She may not have known him for very long, but Aragorn was stoic and hardened by life. She learned to read him well, but not everyone could do that sort of thing. 

“Patience.” Aragorn said sounding embarrassed. She felt a little bad for that, but she was also nervous and sometimes when she was nervous she said some not so appropriate things.

“What? It’s true.” She tried to defend herself. Aragorn just shook his head, but Arwen was grinning widely. 

“I like her. Come, we must get you dressed.” She held out her hands to help her off the bed. Her enthusiasm scared Patience a little, though, so she looked pleadingly at Aragorn. He was powerless to help, however, so he just shook his head at her and shrugged his shoulders. Arwen tugged her up and helped her out of the room. Patience kept looking back at Aragorn, but Arwen wasn’t deterred and just kept on walking. She started talking about dresses and hair styles, but Patience was honestly lost on what she was talking about. The next two hour was spent with with Arwen first cleaning her up, then dressing her up and doing her hair. 

She had to admit, the effect was quite something. Her hair was soft and tame for once, pulled back in a simple pollyanna that turned into a fishtail down her back. Her dress was the softest material she had ever felt and it was in a in a rich, deep purple. Her leg had been carefully bandaged up again after the bath. 

“There. Now you’re presentable.” Arwen said happily, clearly satisfied with her work. 

“Thank you, I don’t know what to say. Are you sure it is alright for me to wear this?” Arwen laughed.

“Seeing Estel’s expression when he sees you will be more than enough.” Patience was a little puzzled by that, but let it be. “Come, you must be hungry.” She excitedly took her hand again and lead her to the dining hall. Patience was enchanted with Rivendell. Everything was spectacular and beautiful here, even the halls. When they reached the dining hall, Patience stopped to look around at the architecture of the room. She knew she had a goofy look on her face, but she couldn’t help it. Because she was looking around, though, she didn’t see Aragorn’s face when she and Arwen walked in. He had been talking to Lord Elrond when she walked in, but had completely lost his train of thought when he saw her. Arwen smirked at the look on Aragorn’s face. She tugged Patience over to their table. “My apologies for our tardiness, Ada.” Elrond just smiled indulgently at her while Arwen sat Patience next to Aragorn. That’s when Patience stopped looking around and focused on the people in the room. Seeing Aragorn, she latched onto his arm when she sat down and leaned in to talk to him.

“Please never leave me alone with your sister again. Arwen is lovely and I enjoy her company, but two hours just to dress for breakfast is just way more than I can handle.” She tightened her grip for effect. Aragorn had taken a sip from his drink when she started talking. He choked on his drink, laughing at her expense. He was coughing and sputtering still, but she could tell he was laughing at her, so she lightly smacked his arm. “It’s not funny, Aragorn! There are a lot of things I can handle, but there is no way I can handle that again.” Her protest just served to make him laugh harder. His laughter made her smile despite herself. When he calmed down, he said.

“Well, you do clean up very nicely.” She smiled at him, blushing a little.

“Your not so bad yourself.” They looked at each other for a moment before Aragorn said firmly.

“Eat.” She rolled her eyes, but did as he said. The both of them missed the way Elrond and his kids shared knowing looks. When it looked like Patience was mostly done with her food, Elrond broke Patience and Aragorn’s silent meal. 

“I did not get a chance to say so before, but welcome to Rivendell Lady Patience.” Patience smiled a little shyly at him.

“Thank you, Lord Elrond. Please call me Patience, I’m no lady.” The only title she had ever been comfortable with was Doctor. Lady makes her feel like she is impersonating some dignitary. Elrond raises an eyebrow at that.

“I dare say you had me fooled.” She’s blushing now and clearly uncomfortable. It’s particularly evident when she changes the topic completely.

“Your healing halls are quite magnificent. And from what I hear, it is the best in Middle Earth. I wonder if I could possibly talk to you about some of your medical techniques? Oh, no, never mind. You must be a very busy man. Maybe I could possibly read some medical journals? Unless they are all in elvish, which is totally understandable.” Her speech started turning into a nervous ramble, so Aragorn interrupted her.

“Patience, you just got out of the Halls of Healing.” He said exasperatedly. 

“It’s not like I would be going back as a patient. I’m a healer, the more information and tricks I know the better chances my patients have. You never know what will help. For example, the trick I did with your arm helped it heal fast with minimal scarring. And I picked that up from a random drunk I knew as a child, not from my main studies.” 

“What happened to your arm?” One of the twins asked sharply. Aragorn grimaced but Patience didn’t pay any attention to it.

“He had it sliced open by an Orc a few months back. He was protecting me, it’s how we met.” The twins were now giving Aragorn very pointed looks that Patience didn’t understand. “Was I not supposed to say anything on the matter?” She quietly asked Aragorn but he was quick to disappear her uncertainty.

“No, they are just over protective at times. It’s not a problem. But what was it that you did that you learned from a drunk?” He asked curiously. She knew he was trying to change the subject away from himself. Part of her didn’t want to let him, but a larger part let him win. 

“It was the disinfectant poultice. Well, I guess it wasn’t purposeful, but I learned it anyway. That’s not the point. The point is that the more I learn, the more I will be helpful and Lord Elrond is the superior healer and the best in Middle Earth, you said so yourself. I am sure I can learn a wealth of knowledge from him in however short a time I can have to talk to him.” Aragorn was blushing slightly while the twins and Arwen had their eyebrows in their hairlines and Elrond looked a little uncomfortable. “I’m not flattering either, I’m stating facts. I did literally everything that I knew for Frodo, but it still wasn’t enough. I understand there are some things I will never be able to do because I am not an elf, but the rest I would love to learn.” Elrond kind of blinked at her for a moment, then smiled. 

“You are certainly passionate. It would be my honor to discuss with another devoted healer in the art of medicine.” Patience started getting really excited, but Aragorn cut into her excitement.

“But only for three hour intervals and only for six hours a day.” She recoiled appalled. 

“Now see here! I am a grown woman Aragorn and a healer to boot! Neither you nor any man will ever tell me how long I can do my job for!” She was rather outraged, but though she was emphatic, she made sure not to raise her voice very loud because they were still in the dining hall. Aragorn didn’t back down, though.

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you almost died from not taking care of yourself!” He hadn’t raised his voice at all, but he didn’t need too. Overwhelming pain swirled in his eyes, knocking the air right out of her sails. He saw her deflate and he sighed. “You are still healing yourself. Just until you are fully healed, please do this. For me.” Patience distantly wondered when it was she started willingly do anything for him. But seeing him look at her with so much concern for her, she conceded the point.

“Nine hours.” She tried to negotiate, but he didn’t back down.

“Six hour until you are fully healed. Three hours in the morning, three in the afternoon. And I will come and get you so you don’t go over three hours.” 

“Four hours.”

“Three hours.”

“Three in the morning and four in the afternoon.” 

“Alright, alright. Three in the morning and four in the afternoon.” Aragorn conceded, making her smile widely in triumph. She quickly turned back to Lord Elrond.

“My Lord, are you free for a few hours this morning?” Elrond looked between them for a moment before answering her.

“I think I can spare a few hours.”

“Fantastic! Is now ok?” She asked excitedly. She was already moving before he answered. Her abrupt standing made her injured leg give out, making her half fall on Aragorn. He steadied her and didn’t let go until she was steady on her feet again. Impulsively, she swooped down and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, I’ll see you later.” Then she bolted out of the room, too excited to notice Elrond hadn’t gotten up yet nor had she noticed the stunned look Aragorn had on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Lord of the Rings. This is an OC/Aragorn fic based around the OC. I hope you like it.

A pattern emerged over the next week while she healed. Despite her best efforts, Arwen still dragged her off to get dressed every morning. After breakfast, Patience would convince Lord Elrond to discuss medicine with her until Aragorn came to drag her away. Most days by literally picking her up, despite her protests. They would go to different places, usually outside, until lunch. The many gardens were a popular choice. In the afternoon, she would go back to the Halls of Healing to talk to the other healers there and learn as much as she could from them. That is until, Aragorn came to drag her away again, where they would spend time exploring (in her case) the many facets of Rivendell until dinner. The evening was spent quietly talking to people or just with each other. She was given a room, but most nights she would still sleep with Aragorn. They never did more than just sleep. The first time with her own room was the first night Patience would be sleeping alone in over two months. Instead of it being a relief, she was freaked out by it. She tried to sleep for hours, but eventually gave up. Aragorn had shown her where his room was in case she needed something, so she snuck into his room and climbed into his bed with him. Aragorn had woken up when she climbed into his bed, but he just shuffled over to make room for her and held her through the night. After the second morning of finding her in Aragorn’s room, Arwen just started to go to Aragorn’s room to wake up Patience so she could dress her for the day. 

Frodo woke up a few days after she did and Patience would make sure to spend time with him and the other hobbits every day. She was very relieved to see Frodo awake and doing well. She had gotten a little attached to all of the hobbits. When she was healed, her routine changed only in that she would spend her time between breakfast and lunch either talking to Elrond or in the Halls of Healing. In the afternoon, Aragorn would come and drag her out after five hours, though. A good two weeks went by like this until Elrond pulled her aside one afternoon to speak to her in his office.

“In two weeks time, there will be a council meeting with a representative from every race in regards of what to do with the One Ring. I would like for you to be there for it.”

“Of course, I would be honored.” Was her immediate reply, but she was puzzled by why he was asking her. It must have shown on her face, because Elrond elaborated some on his reasoning.

“If the meeting goes as I hope, they may need a healer on their quest and you are a very excellent healer, Patience. Also, Aragorn will more then likely join and I get the feeling you will follow him even if you are not invited.” She blushed at that. It was true, she would end up following him. He gave her a stern look then. “Women are not usually welcome at these meetings. There may be scorn directed at you for being there.” He warned her. He looked concerned for her and that warmed her heart. 

“Thank you for your concern and the warning. Scorn is not something I am unfamiliar with, Lord Elrond. I will be ready for it.” He nodded his head before dismissing her to continue her day. Over the following two weeks, Men, Elves, and Dwarves from different kingdoms started arriving in Rivendell to await this meeting. One of them had been Aragorn’s good friend Legolas, from Mirkwood. She had been excited to meet Aragorn’s friend and made sure to spend time getting to know him over the week that he had been there. Arwen had started to drag her off before dinner to clean her up and sometimes changing her dress before the meal, cutting into her time with Aragorn in the afternoon. This irritated her more than she thought it would. The night before the meeting, the dinner was more ball-like because there were now many important people in Rivendell for the meeting tomorrow and they had all officially arrived now. So to get ready for the important dinner, Arwen came to get her from the Halls of Healing at the same time Aragorn had come to drag her away like he had every day since they reached Rivendell. Seeing Arwen made Patience suspicious and a little flighty.

“Lady Arwen, what are you doing here? Is there something I can help you with?” Aragorn and Arwen seemed to reach her at the same time.

“Dinner will be a ball tonight, so I am here to take you to go get ready.” Arwen said brightly, but Patience wasn’t having any of it.

“No way, I’ll just put on a nicer dress a little later.” Arwen looked scandalized.

“You most certainly will not. It is my job to make you presentable and that takes time.” she took hold of Patience and started dragging her off. Patience tried to resist and kept looking back at Aragorn.

“But-” 

“Come on, Patience. You will see Aragorn later.” Aragorn could only smile in reassurance at her before Arwen dragged her out of the halls completely. The end result after several hours was extraordinary. Patience almost didn’t recognize herself. Her hair was pulled back and up in an elaborate hairdo with a few pieces artfully falling out of it and a few framing her face. Her dress was midnight blue with small crystals in elaborate veins of knotwork that twisted over each other and around the dress that made the dress twinkle in the light like the night sky. Arwen had pulled back her hair so it was half up and half down and her dress was a beautiful rich green. They were putting on the finishing touches of their outfits when there was a knock on the door. Opening it revealed Elladan and Elrohir.

“Wow Arwen, you outdid yourself. Patience, you look beautiful. Aragorn will not be able to keep his eyes off of you. Not that he can do that very well as it is.” The twins had alternated in speaking, though she had still yet to figure out which was which.

“Elladan and Elrohir volunteered to be our escorts to dinner.” Arwen told her while ushering her out of the room.

“Thank you. Uh, why do we need escorts?” 

“It’s usually not proper to show up without one. In this case, though, these two just want to watch Aragorn’s jaw drop.” Arwen said with a giggle. The twins didn’t deny it, though she was a little puzzled on what they meant. The walk down to dinner was swift with minimal talking between them. Patience was feeling nervous about wearing such a fine gown since she never has before. The closest thing was her high school prom dress, but that had felt cheap, mostly because it was cheap. On Earth, she had always blended into the background but in this dress on Middle-earth, she felt as though that was not going to be possible. 

Everyone had turned to look who had entered the room when they walked in. Patience felt some fortitude that next to Elrond’s children, she was plain in comparison, at least to her perspective. The room was crowded with people, making it difficult to find Aragorn, the one person she knew well and felt safe and comfortable with. She started inexplicably feeling a little panicky when she couldn’t see him. It was a more intense feeling that she had in Bree and she was now realizing that she may be claustrophobic in a crowded and noisy room. Her search was now very obvious and her hold on Elladan’s arm tightened when she still couldn’t see him. 

“Peace Patience. Aragorn is over there talking to Legolas.” Elladan soothed gesturing over to a corner of the room that was difficult to see from the door they entered with all the people in the room. “Come, I will take you over to him.” With that, he gently lead her through the crowd of people. Going through the throng of people made her chest feel tight, making it difficult to breath, but she ignored the feeling and just tried to breathe evenly. When they were a few feet away, Patience saw Aragorn catch their approach and turned to look at them. He had clearly been in the middle of a discussion but it looked like he had trailed off as they got closer. Legolas had also turned to see what had caught his friends eye and outright smirked at what he saw.

When they stopped, it was Legolas who spoke first, seeing as Aragorn was still staring at her. For a moment, she thought that she had shocked him and he was loss for words, but she dismissed that thought. “My Lady, you look absolutely ravishing tonight. Arwen really has outdone herself.” Patience smiled widely at that.

“Thank you, Legolas. She really had done wonders, hasn’t she? A true artist to take a simple girl and make her look like she belongs in high class company.” she had looked down at her dress, so she looked back up sharply when Aragorn spoke.

“The only thing Arwen did was polish up an already gleaming jewel to make it shine brighter than the stars.” He said so seriously, she blushed quite red and ducked down her head. He didn’t let her stay bashful, though. He took a step forward and took her hand, kissing the back of it. “You look stunning, Patience.” She blushed a little more, realizing that her fast heartbeat had nothing to do with the crowd. At some point Elladan had let go of her, so only Aragorn was holding onto her. “If I had known this was the result of leaving you alone with Arwen for five hours, maybe I should be inclined not to make such a fuss next time.” He commented, making her step closer to him and slap him on the arm with a horrified look.

“Don’t you dare! I thought two hours was too long, five was complete torture! If you do any such thing, I shan't talk to you for a week!” She said vehemently, making him throw his head back and laugh. She tried to took stern, but it didn’t last and she started laughing with him. She didn't remember when, but not long after that, she turned into his side and he wrapped an arm around her waist. They continued like that until dinner, where they sat next to each other, but engaged their friends in conversation throughout the meal. After dinner, it seemed to get even louder, but now there was music and dancing involved. They continued talking to other people together. She listened while he talked to people he knew, while he did the same with people that she knew. They had made an unspoken agreement that if it looked like one of them was getting too in depth on a conversation, the other would pull them back and distract. This was mostly for her so she didn’t accidently drag one of the healers that she knew into a six hour debate on some medical topic. She might find that fun and interesting, but that was not the point of tonight. She was having a particularly interesting conversation with a dwarven healer that had gone on for well over an hour when Aragorn employed his distraction tactic. 

“Forgive me, Master Dwarf, but I was hoping to ask this stunning Lady to dance.” The dwarf just chuckled merrily and waved them off, but Patience wasn’t pleased.

“We are in the middle of discussion about the proper uses of sageroot which is quite fascinating. Besides, Aragorn, I don’t know how to dance.” She protested, but he didn’t give in.

“And you can continue your discussion with the Master healer tomorrow. This is not what tonight is about. We made a deal, remember? I don’t go too much into politics and tactics and you don’t go too much into medicine, that was our deal.”

“Yes, yes, alright. But Aragorn, I really don’t know how to dance.” He just smiled at her.

“Trust me.” She couldn’t fight that, so she went with him to the dance floor. She didn’t know how he did it, but he had managed to lead her through a very complex dance flawlessly. She was having so much fun, that she didn’t even notice that they dance two songs through until a slower song turned the dance into a rather intimate dance. That’s when she realized just how out of breath she was and how tightly she was pressed against Aragorn. They stared into each other’s eyes the whole dance, only breaking eye contact for a brief moment for a turn. They were so absorbed with each other, that they didn’t notice everyone had cleared the dance floor to watch them dance. At the end of the song, he dipped her gracefully and coming back up, they were so close Patience thought he might kiss her, but the applause that broke out broke through their bubble, reminding them of where they were. They were both breathing hard when Aragorn made a quip. “Are you sure you don’t know how to dance?” It made her laugh breathlessly.

“I think I need some air.” was her reply and Aragorn was quick to agree. He lead her to one of the balconies for some fresh air.

“I’m going to get us some drinks.” Aragorn said and she smiled in agreement before he left in search of drinks. The night was chilly, especially in comparison to the ballroom full of people. The balcony was wonderfully peaceful and helped calm her down from the dancing.

“You dance beautifully. Though I wasn’t expecting less from such a stunning creature such as you.” A voice she didn’t know said behind her, startling her and making her turn back to the doorway leading back to the ballroom. It was a Man who had broad shoulders and brown hair. “I apologize, I didn’t mean to startle you.” There wasn’t any reason for it, but she felt uneasy around him, though she just passed it off as not being around many Men these days aside from Aragorn, but he didn’t count.

“It is alright, Lord…” He looked flustered.

“Oh, where is my manners? I am Boromir, son of Denethor of Gondor.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it. Many people had been doing that tonight, though Boromir tried it in a similar way to how Aragorn did earlier in the night and instead of being enchanted by it, she started to feel weary of this man.

“Lord Boromir, then. If you are seeking a dance, I am afraid you are out of luck. I’m afraid I do not know how to dance. What you saw was through Lord Aragorn’s dancing abilities alone.” She tried to keep a distance from him, but he kept trying to get closer.

“Well that I do not believe. I also find it hard to believe that Lord Aragorn could properly lead you through that dance without losing his concentration with the way to you look. So either you do know how to dance, or your dancing partner does not know how to properly appreciate the beauty in his company.” It was pretty late in the evening now, and most of the guests were pretty far into their cups at this point. Boromir clearly was, because he kept getting closer to her and if she didn’t escape right this second, he will have trapped her against a wall. 

“Lord Boromir, I do believe you have had too much to drink tonight. If you would please excuse me.” She tried to move past him, but he grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back.

“Now hold on, we were having a conversation here.” Cold fear started to drip down her spine. I really need to ask for some hand to hand self defense training from Aragorn later. 

“Please let go of me.” He didn’t listen, though and unconsciously tightened his grip on her. It was a rather strong grip and she worried what Aragorn would do if he saw a hand shaped bruise on her arm. “My Lord, you are not thinking clearly right now and you are starting to hurt my arm. Now please, let go of me.”

“She said let go.” Aragorn boomed at him, coming from out of nowhere to stand next to her. Boromir was startled into letting go of her and she didn’t realize she had been leaning away from him until he let go, making her stumble into Aragorn. He easily caught her and held her against his chest protectively. “I think it is high time you retire for the night Lord Boromir of Gondor. You are clearly not thinking straight. Elrohir has volunteered to escort you back to your room for the night.” She looked out of her protective cage to the side to see Elrohir standing next to Aragorn with a stony look on his face. 

“Perhaps you are right, I am not thinking clearly. Bed does seem like a good idea. If you could pass my compliments to the host please? Please lead the way, Master Elf.” Boromir managed to gracefully bow out without making a scene. At least he knew when he was in the wrong. It wasn’t until Boromir was gone did Aragorn pull her back a bit and cup her cheek so she would look him in the eyes.

“Are you alright?” he asked softly. She could see anger and worry war with each other in his eyes and that combined with his embrace calmed any lingering fear she had felt. She gave him a small smile and nodded.

“I’m ok, I promise. I think I have had enough of the party, though. I really just want to go to bed now.” He nodded his understanding.

“Alright, let’s retire for the night. We have to tell Elrond, Arwen, or Elladan first, though.” He started to look around the room to try to spot one of them, but she frowned at him.

“Don’t retire just because I do. It’s a party, you should enjoy it as much as you can.” He looked down at her and just gave her a warm look.

“It is quite late and I am ready to retire for the night as well. Besides, it will be no fun without you to tease.” She chuckled at that and let it go. They spotted Arwen not long after that and said their goodnights then departed. Normally, Patience would go and change in her room then go sleep in Aragorn’s room, but tonight she didn’t feel like it would be a good idea to walk the halls in just her nightgown, even if it was a short walk between rooms. Aragorn didn’t say anything, just handed her a clean shirt of his to sleep in for the night, not even questioning why she hadn’t gone to her room first. He was over six foot, so his shirts were like long dresses on her. She forced him into helping her take down her hair first, which made him laugh uproariously when she started cussing her hair out for being so stubborn. It took the two of them almost twenty minutes to get it down, though Aragorn’s intermittent laughing fits didn’t make it go very fast (She was really cussing out her hair and had started even cussing Arwen out at points). They changed separately in the adjoined bathroom before they both climbed into the bed and were both out like a light.


End file.
